Minimum

Minimum is a 2014 Third-Person Shooter that, on the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combination, demonstrates classic scaling behavior: performance drops significantly as resolution increases, confirming the GPU as the primary bottleneck in this pairing. The data shows a clear hierarchy where the CPU’s substantial core and thread count ensures high frame rates at lower resolutions, while the RTX 3080’s memory and compute limits cap performance at 4K.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep performance curve as resolution scales from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160. At High settings, the average frame rate falls from 171 FPS at 1080p to 110 FPS at 1440p, a drop of 61 FPS, and then to 60 FPS at 4K, another 50 FPS decline. This pattern indicates that the RTX 3080 is the limiting component; the GPU must render roughly four times the pixels at 4K compared to 1080p, and the frame rate drops by approximately 65% from the 1080p result. At Low settings, the scaling is even more pronounced: 267 FPS at 1080p falls to 172 FPS at 1440p and then to 93 FPS at 4K. The 4K Low result is less than half the 1080p Low result, which strongly suggests that even with reduced graphical load, the GPU’s raw throughput—specifically its 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth—is being saturated.

The relationship between resolution and settings further clarifies the bottleneck. At 4K, the frame rate difference between Low (93 FPS) and Ultra (45 FPS) is 48 FPS, a 51% reduction. At 1080p, the same comparison shows a 136 FPS difference (267 FPS Low vs. 131 FPS Ultra), a 49% reduction. This proportional drop at both resolutions indicates that the GPU is consistently the limiting factor; the CPU has enough headroom to push high frame rates even at Ultra settings, but the GPU cannot maintain those rates as pixel count rises. Notably, the 4K Medium setting yields 71 FPS with a minimum of 60 FPS, which is close to the 4K High result of 60 FPS, showing that the game’s High preset may already be hitting a memory or bandwidth ceiling on this GPU.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X brings 12 cores and 24 threads, with a base clock of 4.70 GHz and a boost clock of 5.60 GHz, built on the Zen 4 architecture (Raphael) using a 5 nm process. This processor’s benchmark results show strong multi-threaded performance: it scores 29,300 in Cinebench R23 multi-core and 19,267 in Geekbench multi-core, with a PassMark multi-thread score of 51,406. Its single-thread capabilities are equally robust, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2,016.5 and a Geekbench single-core score of 2,617. These numbers place the CPU in the 91st percentile among all tested CPUs, indicating it is in the top 9% of processors for general performance.

In the context of Minimum, the CPU’s role is to feed the GPU with draw calls and game logic. The fact that the 7900X can deliver 267 FPS at 1080p Low settings demonstrates that its 12 cores are not a bottleneck at high frame rates. The 3DMark scores support this: the 2-thread score is 2,137, the 8-thread score is 7,798, and the max-thread score is 12,536, showing that the CPU scales well with thread count. However, the game’s release in 2014 suggests it may not fully utilize all 24 threads, but the single-thread performance—evidenced by the 3DMark single-thread score of 1,093 and PassMark single-thread score of 4,238—is sufficient to avoid limiting even at 1080p. The CPU’s 64 MB of shared L3 cache and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (83.2 GB/s bandwidth) provide ample data throughput for the GPU, but the benchmark results indicate that the GPU becomes the limiting component well before the CPU’s capabilities are exhausted.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, based on the GA102 chip (Ampere architecture) on an 8 nm process, is the definitive bottleneck in this combo for Minimum. Its specifications include 8,704 shading units, 272 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units, with base and boost clocks of 1,440 MHz and 1,710 MHz respectively. The GPU has 10 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit bus, delivering 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth, and a pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s with a texture rate of 465.1 GTexel/s. These features support a passmark G3D score of 25,086 and a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4,407, placing the GPU in the 68th percentile among all GPUs.

The GPU’s memory configuration is particularly relevant to the 4K results. With 10 GB of VRAM, the RTX 3080 can struggle with high-resolution textures in modern titles, but for a 2014 game like Minimum, this is less of a concern. Instead, the compute throughput—29.77 TFLOPS FP32—determines the frame rates. The data shows that at 4K High, the GPU produces 60 FPS, which is exactly the target for many displays, but at 4K Ultra it drops to 45 FPS. This 15 FPS drop from High to Ultra suggests that the extra graphical effects in Ultra presets significantly increase the pixel shading workload. The GPU’s 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores are irrelevant for this game, which likely uses traditional rasterization, but they do not harm performance either. The RTX 3080’s end-of-life production status and its position in the 68th percentile indicate it is a capable mid-range-to-high-end card, but its performance in Minimum is clearly limited by its raw pixel throughput rather than any CPU-side constraint.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the combo delivers high frame rates across all settings. Low settings produce an average of 267 FPS, Medium averages 204 FPS with a minimum of 174 FPS and maximum of 235 FPS, High averages 171 FPS, and Ultra averages 131 FPS. The difference between Low and Ultra is 136 FPS, showing that the GPU can handle the game at high speed even with maximum effects at this resolution. The Medium setting’s minimum of 174 FPS indicates that frame time consistency is good, with no major dips.

At 2560x1440, performance drops noticeably. Low settings average 172 FPS, Medium averages 132 FPS (minimum 112 FPS, maximum 151 FPS), High averages 110 FPS, and Ultra averages 84 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 88 FPS, narrower than at 1080p, which suggests that the GPU is starting to feel the increased pixel count. The Medium setting’s minimum of 112 FPS is still above 100 FPS, so the gameplay remains smooth, but the Ultra setting’s 84 FPS average is close to the edge of what some might consider ideal for a fast-paced shooter.

At 3840x2160, the frame rates become marginal for competitive play. Low settings average 93 FPS, Medium averages 71 FPS (minimum 60 FPS, maximum 82 FPS), High averages 60 FPS, and Ultra averages 45 FPS. The Low setting is the only one that maintains an average above 90 FPS, while High and Ultra fall to 60 FPS and 45 FPS respectively, which are playable but not ideal for a shooter requiring quick reactions. The Medium setting’s minimum of 60 FPS is a hard floor, suggesting that the GPU is hitting a performance wall. The data shows that for 4K gaming, users would need to use Low or Medium settings to achieve acceptable frame rates, while 1080p and 1440p offer more flexibility.

How This Combo Ranks

In the global database of tested combinations for Minimum, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 combo ranks 1,051 out of 3,712 tested combos. This places it in the top 28% of all tested systems, which is a solid result given the GPU’s age. The rank reflects the combo’s ability to deliver high frame rates at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4K performance pulls the overall score down relative to newer GPUs with more memory and compute power.

Comparing the individual components to their nearest rivals, the CPU’s performance is closely matched with several server and desktop processors. The Ryzen 9 7900X has an average benchmark score of 53,288, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD EPYC 7313P (53,206) and 0.6% higher than the Intel Xeon 634 (52,974), but 0.3% lower than the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (53,469) and 0.6% lower than the Intel Core i7-14700F (53,620). This indicates the CPU is in a tight cluster of high-performance processors, and its ranking in the 91st percentile is justified.

The GPU’s average benchmark score is 23,172, which is 0.3% lower than the NVIDIA P106-100 (23,249) and 0.4% lower than both the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 (23,250) and AMD Radeon RX 6600M (23,273). This places the RTX 3080 in a group of mid-range GPUs, and its 68th percentile ranking confirms that it is not a top-tier card by modern standards. The combo’s overall rank of 1,051 out of 3,712 is influenced heavily by the GPU’s limitations at 4K, but the CPU’s strong performance ensures that the system excels at lower resolutions where the GPU can keep up.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Minimum?

A: Based on the measured FPS, 1920x1080 is the best resolution, with average frame rates ranging from 131 FPS at Ultra to 267 FPS at Low. 2560x1440 is also viable, with all settings above 84 FPS, but 3840x2160 requires Low or Medium settings to stay above 60 FPS.

Q: Can this combo maintain 60 FPS at 4K in Minimum?

A: Yes, but only at certain settings. At 4K Medium, the average FPS is 71 with a minimum of 60 FPS, and at 4K High, the average is exactly 60 FPS. At 4K Ultra, the average drops to 45 FPS, which is below the 60 FPS target.

Q: Is the CPU or GPU the limiting factor in this game?

A: The GPU is the limiting factor. Evidence shows that at 1080p Low, the combo achieves 267 FPS, indicating the CPU (with 12 cores and 24 threads) can handle high frame rates. As resolution increases to 4K, frame rates drop significantly, which is a classic sign of GPU saturation.

Q: How does the Ryzen 9 7900X compare to its nearest CPU rivals?

A: The Ryzen 9 7900X has an average benchmark score of 53,288, which is 0.2% higher than the AMD EPYC 7313P and 0.6% higher than the Intel Xeon 634, but 0.3% lower than the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 and 0.6% lower than the Intel Core i7-14700F.

Q: What is the GPU’s performance percentile, and what does it mean?

A: The RTX 3080 is in the 68th percentile among all GPUs, meaning it performs better than 68% of tested graphics cards. Its average benchmark score is 23,172, which is slightly lower than its nearest rivals, such as the AMD Radeon RX 6600M, which scores 23,273.

Q: What is the combo’s overall rank in Minimum?

A: The combo ranks 1,051 out of 3,712 tested combinations, placing it in the top 28% of all systems tested for this game. This rank reflects strong performance at 1080p and 1440p, with a weaker showing at 4K due to GPU limitations.